How to Pack and Look Stylish Travel Essentials According to a Wardrobe Consultant

How to pack and look stylish isn’t that complicated if you follow these travel essential steps.

Watching so many people pack and post their packing on Instagram stories inspired this post because you don’t need to turn your bedroom into a mess if you know how to pack effectively. Since I’m always on the road, have to travel for a weekend, 5 days, a week, or a month in multiple climates, I’d say I’m a packing expert so here are my tips for packing effectively and efficiently.

Step 1: Buy a rolling rack.

Many of my clients who have worked with me over the years have rolling racks in their homes which makes it easier for us to clean out their closets, add new clothes into their closets, and also effectively pack what’s in your closet!

I recommend purchasing space saver hangers for your closet and I’ll also teach you how to use them to pack! This process will save you so much time packing and unpacking your outfits. I don’t know about you, but I hate packing. It’s a laborious process especially if you’re going for a long trip. So, these are my first how-to-pack tips. Feel free to shop the images below that help support the maintenance of this blog.

Step 2: Organize your rolling rack into outfits.

In order to do this effectively, think about the number of days you’re traveling for. Is it for a weekend, 5 days, 7 days, 10 days, a month?

Ask yourself, “How many outfits are you going to need?”

Most of the time people OVER PACK! So, if you lead a simple lifestyle, perhaps you only need one outfit per day. However, if you’re into fashion and style, like to go out to dinner or drinks with your friends or partner during the trip, you’ll either need outfits that go from day to night or two outfits per day.

Also, are you going on a business trip or vacation trip? Is it hot or cold there? Are you going on a beach vacation, then dining out every night?

To keep it simple, let’s say you’re going to Europe this summer for two weeks.

If you’re a simple kind of person, you’ll pack one week’s worth of clothing and wear the same outfits the next week. That’s 7 outfits plus your travel essentials.

Or you can pack to mix and match! We call this creating a wardrobe capsule so that you can change your outfit daily.

During this European trip you’ll be doing the following:

Site seeing (need casual outfits and comfortable shoes)
Shopping (need casual outfits and comfortable shoes)
Going to the pool or beach

need swimsuit(s)
pool shoes
foldable beach bag
cover-up or shorts and t-shirt
sunscreen
hat, visor, or baseball cap

4. Go out to nice dinners

Recommend packing at least one pair of heels or high-heel sandals for this that will go with all your outfits as well as one bag that goes with everything at night

SO HOW WOULD I PACK FOR THIS TRIP?

I like to keep things simple but stylish. And I don’t want to wear the same outfit every day. Plus, I would opt for outfits that I can wear from day to night so that my luggage isn’t overweight.

So, I would pack 12 casual dresses and 2 dresses that look more appropriate for nights out. Shop my assortment of summer casual dresses to wear from day to night.

Then I would pack all the beach stuff mentioned in bullet 3 above.

For shoes, I would pack:

4 pairs of flat slides in neutral colors that go with everything
- (black, white, camel, or metallic colored sandals)
2 pairs of sneakers (fashion sneakers for walking and also an athletic one if you go to the gym)
1 pair of wedges or sandals with heels

SHOP THIS COLLECTION OF SUMMER 2021 TRAVEL ESSENTIAL SHOES

2 sets of gym clothes
4 t-shirts
1 pair of white shorts or denim shorts
1 pair of pajamas plus some sleeping shorts to wear with a t-shirt
14 pairs of underwear

3 handbags (feel free to shop the images below; straw bags are trending)

A tote bag that I can wear daily and also use at the pool (preferably it’s collapsible and fits into my luggage if I’m not using it as my purse for carry-on).
Since we are going site seeing in Europe and there’s a high theft issue over there, I would wear a wallet-on-chain type of bag. Basically, a crossbody that holds essentials like my phone and debit card. However, if you have apple pay, use that. Also, keep a picture of your passport on your phone. This is useful if you’re shopping in Europe and want to get a tax refund on your purchases. I would also make sure there’s space for a mask and hand sanitizer even if you’re vaccinated!
A bag that I would wear to go out to dinner and that I could also wear during the daytime.

Step 3: Let’s Pack!

To avoid all the clutter in your bedroom and piles of clothes, leave all your pieces of clothing on the slim hangers that I linked to above, organized by outfits on your rolling rack. The only things that should be folded are things like:

T-shirts
Shorts
Swimsuits
PJs
Underwear
Gym clothes

Smart Packing Tip from the Pros: You can stuff these things inside your handbags to help your bags retain their shape and also save space. Or you can place these things into packing cubes.

Be sure to leave some space for toiletries and medication. You can pack them into items like these.

Also, pack your shoes using shoe bags or wrap them in plastic bags from the grocery to store them in your suitcase as you don’t want to track the dirt from your shoes onto your clothing. Pack them on the base/bottom of your suitcase.

The best suitcases to use for travel are light weight, hard case, double sided suitcases. Shop the images below.

Then I would place dry-cleaning plastic garment bags over the clothes on the rolling rack and pack those items with the hangers, then fold the garment bag into half or into thirds and place the hanging clothes into one side of the suitcase.

By doing this:

You minimize the clothes from getting wrinkled
It’s easy to unpack the clothes
And you don’t need to worry about having enough hotel hangers in the closet
Plus, the hangers are lightweight
No more endless folding and unfolding or rolling clothes into a ball in your suitcase!